Oscillating power paint brush

ABSTRACT

An oscillating power paint brush having a pneumatic drive for oscillating the brush and fountain paint feed to the brush controlled by air pressure and a hand actuated variable valve. The brush is connected to the source of pneumatic power by flexible tubes so that the brush can be used at any point adjacent the power apparatus.

United States Patent 1191 Crawford 1 1 Sept. 23, 1975 OSCILLATING POWER PAINT BRUSH Inventor: John W. Crawford, 1674 Virginia Rd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90019 Filed: July 9, 1973 App1.No.: 377,414

US. Cl. 15/22 R; 401/188 Int. Cl A46b 13/04 Field of Search 15/22 R, 22 A, 22 C, 98 R, 15/50 R; 118/207, 241, 242, 256; 401/188, 197, 204

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1902 401/188 2/1920 118/256 11/1953 Sears 15/29 3/1954 Rucker 15/22 A 10/1960 Dynia 118/207 X Carryl Peterson ct a1.

3.14.3,756 8/1964 Sisko 401/188 3.224.031 12/1965 Leland 3.611.983 10/1971 Wise .v 15/98 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 730,840 3/1966 Canada 15/22 R 1,055,501 1/1967 United Kingdom... 15/22 R 1,130,499 10/1956 France 15/50 R Primary Examiner-Daniel Blium Attorney, Agent, or FirmVict0r J. Evans & Co.

4 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures ///////////y// //LE s US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 1 of 2 3,906,573

US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 2 of 2 @OQQQ a a 5 M OSCILLATING POWER PAINT BRUSH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION" by pneumatic power and is simultaneously fountain feed with paint under air pressure through a hand controlled valve to control the flow of paint to the brush. The primary object of the invention is to provide a power actuated oscillating paint brush with a fountain power paint feed to the oscillating brush.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent in the following specification when considered in light of the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of the brush;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view, taken along the 3-3 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view of the brush with the drive cover removed;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the brush;

FIG. 6 is a transverse horizontal sectional view, taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 7 is an end elevation of a modified form of brush;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation of the brush illustrated in FIG. 7; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of the brush illustrated in FIG. 7.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings in detail, wherein like reference characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures, the reference numeral 10 indicates generally an oscillating power paint brush apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention.

The apparatus 10 includes a power unit generally indicated at 11 and including an electric motor 12 having a power cable 13 adapted for connection to a source of electricity. A hand control switch 14 on the motor 12 is provided for actuating the motor 12.

An air compressor 15 is coupled to the electric motor 12 through a flexible coupling 16 as can be seen in FIG. 1. An air tank 17 is connected through conduits 18 to the air compressor 15 and the conduit 18 is controlled by a valve 19. A second air tank 20 is also connected to the conduit 18 through a hand control valve 21. The air tank 20 is connected to a paint reservoir tank 22 by a conduit 23. A flexible conduit 24 extends from the paint reservoir 22 to the oscillating paint brush generally indicated at 25. A flexible conduit 26 extends from the air tank 17 to the oscillating paint brush 25.

The paint brush includes a body 27 having a port 28 extending downwardly therefrom and communicating with the flexible conduit 24. A chamber 29 communicates with the port 28. A generally cylindrical transverse bore 30 is formed in the body 27 below the chamher 29. A plurality of apertures or ports 31 are formed in the bottom of the chamber 29 and communicate with the bore 30. A valve plate 32 is slidably mounted in the body 27 in .a position to intersect the ports 31. The-:valve plate 32 has a plurality of triangular apertures 33,.formed therein and adapted to communicate with the openings 31 so as to control the flow .of paint from the chamber 29 to the bore 30 as desired by the operator. A handle 34 protrudes from the body 27 'through-atslot 35 to permit the valve plate 32 to be moved in the body 27 to open and close the apertures 31 as desired.

A generally cylindrical shank 36 is mounted for oscillating .in the bore 30 and hasxa plurality of apertures or bores37 extending downwardly therethrough communicating with an enlarged recess 38. formed along the upper surface of the shank 36. The recess 38 is constantly in communication with the ports 31 whenever the valve 32 is positioned so as to open the apertures 31 to communicate with the bores 37 so that paint may flow downwardly therefrom to a plurality of bristle tufts 39 mounted in the shank 36.

A miniature air actuated turbine 40 is mounted in the body 27 and has an eccentric 41 mounted thereon and connected to a link 42 as can be seen in FIG. 4. The link 42 is connected to an arm 43 extending outwardly from the shank 36 so that rotation of the turbine 40 will rotate the eccentric 41 and vertically oscillate the link 42 and the arm 43 to oscillate the shank 36 in the bore 30. A cover 44 is provided for the side of the brush 25 so that neither paint nor lubricants will escape from the body 27. The body 27 is separable along a transverse vertical line 45 and is secured together by a plurality of screws 46.

In the use and operation of the invention the desired paint is placed in the paint reservoir 22 and the electric cable 13 is connected to a source of electricity. The switch 14 is thrown to on position so as to drive the compressor 15 pressuring the air tanks 17, 20. The valve 19 can be used to control the pressure in the air tank 17 and hence can control the speed of oscillation of the bristle tufts 39 of the brush 25. The hand valve 21 can be adjusted to control the pressure in the tank 20 and thus to control the fountain flow of paint from the reservoir 22 to the bristles 29. The valve plate 32 can be adjusted to control the final flow of paint from the chamber 29 to the bristles 39. The paint brush is brought adjacent a wall to be painted with the bristles 39 touching the wall the oscillation thereof will paint so long as paint is supplied from the reservoir 22.

In FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 a modified oscillating paint brush is illustrated generally at 125. The paint brush has a body 127 with an elongate head formed transversely of the lower end thereof so that a vastly greater number of bristles 139 may be used when compared to the number of bristles 39 in the preferred form of the invention. The paint brush 125 is otherwise identical to the paint brush 25 and is provided for covering larger areas of wall surface more rapidly than the oscillating paint brush 25.

It should be understood that while the drive for the oscillating paint brush and the power for the fountain paint supply is illustrated and described as being pneumatic any other desired power may be used.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention it should be understood that numerous structural modifications and adaptations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

I. An oscillating power actuated paint brush compising, a paint brush body including a handle, a source of air under pressure an elongated shank mounted for oscillation about its longitudinal axis in said body, a plurality of bristles mounted endwise in said shank, means feeding paint under pressure to said bristles, valve plate means transversely thereof and positioned entirely within said body but for their extremities so that the bristles oscillate back and forth as the shank oscillates in said body for controlling the flow of paint from said last named means to said bristles, and power actuated means driven by said air under pressure for oscillating said shank to oscillate said bristles;

2. A device as claimed in claim I wherein the power means for actuating said shank includes an air actuated turbine and means connecting said turbine to said shank.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said valve plate includes a plurality of triangular valve openings for adjusting the flow of paint to said bristles.

4. A dcvice as claimed in claim I wherein conduit means connected between the source of air pressure and the power actuating means are provided for oscillating said shank and additional conduit means connected to the source of air pressure are provided for forcing paint to said oscillating paint brush. 

1. An oscillating power actuated paint brush compising a paint brush body including a handle, a source of air under pressure an elongated shank mounted for oscillation about its longitudinal axis in said body, a plurality of bristles mounted endwise in said shank, means feeding paint under pressure to said bristles, valve plate means transversely thereof and positioned entirely within said body but for their extremitiEs so that the bristles oscillate back and forth as the shank oscillates in said body for controlling the flow of paint from said last named means to said bristles, and power actuated means driven by said air under pressure for oscillating said shank to oscillate said bristles.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein the power means for actuating said shank includes an air actuated turbine and means connecting said turbine to said shank.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said valve plate includes a plurality of triangular valve openings for adjusting the flow of paint to said bristles.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein conduit means connected between the source of air pressure and the power actuating means are provided for oscillating said shank and additional conduit means connected to the source of air pressure are provided for forcing paint to said oscillating paint brush. 